Tensions outside parliament: Protesters prevent MPs from leaving, police presence stepped up

Tensions outside the Kosovo Assembly have not subsided, with protesters physically preventing one Self-Determination MP from leaving the parliamentary compound, Gazeta Express reported.

Protesters forced Self-Determination MP Fahrush Rexhepi back into the area behind the barricades near the parliament building.

Video footage shows that as he attempted to leave, several protesters initially spoke to him and demanded that he return to the building. When he refused, they grabbed him, lifted him up and “carried” him over the barrier into the area adjacent to the Assembly.

The protesters warned that they would not allow MPs to leave until they adopted the amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers in the second reading as well.

They allowed only government employees to leave for home after the end of working hours, Gazeta Express reported.

Earlier, several protesters attacked former Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi near the Government building.

Bislimi was walking past a barricade when one person approached him and pulled him by his jacket, but police intervened.

Kosovo Police Director Gazmend Hoxha arrived at the Kosovo Government building in the afternoon.

In addition, a police cordon was deployed in the courtyard of the Kosovo Government, with a group of police officers stationed at the entrance to the building.

The protest by KLA supporters has been taking place outside the Kosovo Assembly since this morning, and demonstrators are now demanding that MPs adopt the proposed amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers in the second reading as well.

The Draft Law amending and supplementing the Law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office was adopted earlier today by the Kosovo Assembly in the first reading with 91 votes.